Junior doctors are considering holding week-long strikes once a month for the rest of the year, in the latest round of industrial action over new contracts.

Strikes from 8am to 5pm five days in a row are among the options being looked at by the British Medical Association. The first walkout could be as early as mid-September, according to leaked documents seen by the Daily Mail.

Earlier this month, Ellen McCourt, who leads the BMA's junior doctors' committee, said a request had been made for the union's council to authorise "a rolling programme of escalated industrial action beginning in early September".

The BMA said it could not "stand idly by" as the date for imposition drew nearer, and that forcing a contract on doctors would be bad for patients.

With walk-outs possibly starting as early as September 12, thousands of scheduled operations could be postponed, and the junior doctors committee (JDC) admitted there would be a "regrettable impact on patient care."

"The level of cancellation of procedures and patient disruption would increase dramatically," the JDC added.

But the Government has said the union is "playing politics" and putting patients at risk.

Mr Hunt has said the new contract will be imposed from October, after junior doctors rejected a deal negotiated by the BMA and the Government. The two sides have been locked in a battle over the new contract, which would end premium rates of pay for weekend work.

A BMA spokesman said: "Junior doctors have been clear in their rejection of Jeremy Hunt's imposed contract. It should come as no surprise that BMA Council are discussing the issue of further industrial action. But at this stage, no decisions have been made."

A decision will be made today after a meeting of the BMA council, with the five-day strikes one option.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The BMA should be putting patients first, not playing politics in a way that will be immensely damaging for vulnerable patients."